Party planning: champagne and crafts

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Connecting with creative friends has been such a blessing to me lately. I'm continually encouraged by gals who also share a passion for all the pretty details in life.

Yesterday, my lovely friend Blair and I, planned a Champagne and Crafts night to connect and inspire some of our most creative friends. Expect bubbly, sweet and savory treats, and of course some fabulous crafting.

I used this great new app on my iPad called Red Stamp to send pretty invitations.

We gathered ideas from Pinterest and felt drawn to mason jars, lace and white paint. The plan is to provide the materials and allow guests to do the rest. Create as they feel inspired.

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Next steps are to make a playlist and plan a menu with both sweet and savory goods. Mini cupcakes? Macaroons? Tea sandwiches? Crudites? What kind of treats would you serve with champagne and crafts?

Can't wait to share the craft night photos with you soon. 

And the winner is...

Thank you to everyone who entered the book giveaway last week and for sharing your most recent fabulous idea moments. An anniversary menu, crafts with old fabric and mason jars, outdoor photo shoots, girlie dorm room decor... your ideas are always so inspiring.

Congrats to Amber on winning a copy of my mom's book, (Gasp) I have an idea! Happy reading my friend.

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Glitter, beauty and lifestyle

An Americano and an iPad, and I'm a happy girl. Much of my time is spent on the web focused on building Pink & Honey; gathering inspiration, creating social media plans, reviewing the website, and researching like crazy. When I'm in need of a break from the wonderful world of weddings, I typically peruse my favourite sites and blogs. 

Here are three of my latest reads that provide a daily dose of inspiration and fun...

The Glitter Guide 

A daily newsletter with spotlights on fashion, beauty, lifestyle, food and trends. I love it when they feature gals who run creative businesses. Great interviews, great photos. If you like sequins and champagne, The Glitter Guide is an email definitely worth signing up for. 

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The Beauty Department 

Love her or hate her, Lauren Conrad has taken a turn for the better in my opinion. The Beauty Department is a sweet website hosted by Lauren and a collaboration of girls who post on all things hair and makeup. The best are the many tutorials like the ombre lip trend, blue moon manicure and the fishtail braid. 

Matchbook Magazine 

Matchbook was recently recommended by a friend and is now on my monthly radar. It's an online publication featuring fashion, decor, arts, travel and culture. Matchbook is extremely well written and designed, and is an excellent iPad read.

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Hope you enjoy these new reads via the wonderful web. 

Giveaway day: a very special book

My mom is a myriad of wonderful things. A gracious hostess, a great listener, a creative homemaker, a loving wife, a stylish dresser, a sweet friend and now... a published author! For those of you who receive her famous Christmas card letter every year knew it was only a matter of time before she combined her creative writing skills with her infamous recipes, themed celebrations, gift ideas, and family activities. 

Now wrapped up in a lovely magenta package is a collection of stories from her life that made growing up fun, joyful and inspiring. 

(Gasp) I have an idea! I've probably exclaimed that hundreds of times over the past 30 years. My idea of an adventure is the Lord stirring His ideas within me, which then become precious and pleasant riches in our home. This little book is based on Proverbs 24: 3 & 4 which says..." By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

She is a woman of strong faith which is a constant encouragement to me. I'm excited to see how her array of ideas inspire so many more who also share a passion for truly embracing life.

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In celebration of her launch, I'm giving away a copy of her book this week.  To enter, support her by liking the (Gasp) I have an idea! Facebook page, as well as leave a comment here on Alexandra's Joys sharing your most recent fabulous idea moment. My latest was hosting an impromptu homemade pizza and board games night while my family was visiting for Thanksgiving.

I'll choose a winner at random on Friday. If you can't wait, you can also order a copy from Amazon.

Congrats to my amazing mom and thank you for sharing your love, faith and zest for life with others.

A sweet announcement

Friday is a great day for many reasons and I'm excited to wrap up the week with a fun reveal. As I've shared before, I'm well immersed in researching, planning and launching my event styling business. It's time for an update on how things are rolling out, so today I am officially announcing my business name and sharing my logo. 

Hello world, I am...  

It's a long process making branding decisions and all my previous communications work experience came rushing back to me as I went through the steps to develop something I loved. The fabulous Joy Kelley of the HowJoyful Design Studios created the logo and is hard at work on my website.

Why Pink & Honey you ask?

The words

The word pink is feminine, romantic and frilly. The word honey is sweet, comforting and endearing.  

The colours

Rosy pink is fresh, soft, and graceful. Golden yellow is optimistic, soothing, and joyful. 

The typography  

Adios Script Pro (Pink) is classy, decorative and inspired by the 1940s. Speedball No3 (Honey) is swirly, retro, and inspired by the 1910s. 

My goal with Pink & Honey is to create weddings and events that represent every characteristic used to explain my logo elements above... romantic, sweet, fresh, joyful, classy, vintage. 

Have a lovely weekend and come back soon for more Pink & Honey updates. I can't wait to keep sharing this journey with you. 

Instagram this

 

I'm in love with the Instagram iPhone app. It's easy to use, free to download and the best way to instantly share photos with friends. Take a shot on your iPhone, add a filter to enhance the look and post it to Twitter or Facebook. 

Here are a few of my favorite shots... 

Coffee and macaroons in Seattle. 

Wedding fun from NYC. 

Vintage Italian inspiration. 

Dots and bows. 

Letterpress style stamp set. 

Packing for a trip. 

Cute, right? It's great keeping up with what my friends are wearing, eating, doing, and seeing. 

Aside from my pals, I follow the always inspirational Joy the Baker (joythebaker), Jose Villa (josevilla) and Free People (freepeople). I'd love to stay connected with you - search and follow me (alexandrajoy) or comment and let me know your user name.  

Happy photo sharing! 

Drink wine, make crafts

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I hope you enjoyed a wonderful long weekend with friends, family and food. It was our first time hosting Thanksgiving and of course I jumped at the opportunity to design and create a festive table and decorate around the house.

Today I want to share three easy crafts I used for our Thanksgiving decor, all inspired by red wine. The best ideas often come from re-purposing items you already have around the house and nothing says DIY like digging through your recycling. 

First, I made place cards from wine corks, cardstock and letter stamps. Cut, stamp, and slice a thin slit into the cork and carefully slide the card into place. 

Last week I designed another styled wedding session (photos coming soon!), and made these wine bottle candelabras for the Italian inspired tablescape. They worked out to be a perfect fit for our Thanksgiving table as well. All you need are empty wine bottles, a piece of burlap, taper candles, twine and an add-on of your choice. I used vintage keys from BHLDN.

With wine corks to spare, I created this simple display out of a trifle bowl and red pears. Easy and elegant. 

So keep those corks and bottles next time you finish some vino and get creative with what you have around the house. 

Colour combos

When you primarily work from home, you can technically get away with no mascara, leggings and a messy bun every day. Yikes... In attempts to avoid a perma-loungewear state, I've been spending time on my favourite fashion blogs in hopes of continuing to challenge my look and not succumb to being a house mouse.

Bold colours are a big player this Fall and nothing says, "I don't wear sweats every day" like unexpected colour combos. Here are a few of my new favourite mixes I plan to try... 

Poppy and Camel 

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Navy and Magenta 

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Mustard and Turquoise

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White, Navy & Coral 

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I can't promise you won't catch me in my slippers on some days, but I'm definitely excited for a new season and new trends. What Fall trends can't you wait to try?